Airport expansion may come at no cost

Officials with the Upper Cumberland Regional Airport are discussing the possibility of getting some new hangars built — at no cost to the airport.

"As many of you know, we don't have enough hangars right now," airport manager Dean Selby told the airport board this month. "We've been looking at leases with RC Air. He's proposed that he will build five box hangars. He pays for all of the construction cost and everything. He would lease them and we would get five percent of the rent."

Selby said RC Air wants a 30-year agreement with the airport to go forward with the project.

"By giving us five percent, it takes him almost that full 30 years to pay back his initial cost," Selby said. "He's doing it strictly because he's a pilot here. He wants one of the hangars, and the rest of them he wants to lease out."

Selby said such arrangements are not uncommon.

"This is happening at several airports. Lebanon has got a similar arrangement to this," he said. "I see it as a win for the airport. I've run it by TDOT (Tennessee Department of Transportation) and they thought it was fantastic that somebody was willing to put money into the airport."

Selby said the agreement would include protections for the airport.

"He would agree to maintain the airport minimum standards for everything that we have set forth with all the other hangars," Selby said. "He will handle the insurance on them. If he sells them, the airport has the right to buy them. He can't sell them without coming to the airport board first. At the end of 30 years, it becomes airport property."

Selby also said the agreement would include a requirement that construction on the hangars start within six months.

"I think it would be a plus, but you don't want to give up all of your control," said airport board member Lanny Dunn. "You've got to have control over who's in those hangars, what requirements are put on them and the condition they keep them in. But, in theory, it works."

Selby will be working on the details of the agreement, including language on what happens if RC Air goes out of business, and the issue will be discussed further at the next airport board meeting on Dec. 12.